1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a vehicle in which left and right wheels are attached to a vehicle body by a sub-frame module.
2. Related Art
A vehicle such as an automobile employs a structure in which, for example, a rear sub-frame module is attached to a lower side of a pair of rear side frames of a vehicle body, and left and right wheels are attached to the rear sub-frame module (Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication (JP-A) No. 2007-326529).
By employing this structure, components such as the left and right wheels, for example, can be integrated with the rear sub-frame module, whereupon the integrated rear sub-frame module can be attached to the vehicle body in a single operation. In this case, the rear sub-frame module may be attached to the vehicle body during an operation of a main vehicle body assembly line on which various components are attached to the vehicle body. In so doing, components such as the wheels no longer need to be attached to the vehicle body individually on the main vehicle body assembly line, and as a result, the productivity of the vehicle body can be improved.
When the rear sub-frame module is attached to the vehicle body in this manner, however, a bush capable of elastic deformation must be provided between the rear side frame of the vehicle body and the rear sub-frame module to prevent direct contact between the metal rear side frame and the metal rear sub-frame module, for example. As a result, relative movement occurs between the vehicle body and the rear sub-frame module, making the vehicle body more likely to roll to the left and right.
In JP-A No. 2007-326529, therefore, a stabilizer supported by a sub-frame is laid across left and right link arms of the sub-frame module. By providing the stabilizer, the left and right link arms are less likely to move in opposite phases and more likely to move in identical phases when the vehicle body rolls to the left and right. As a result, left-right rolling of the vehicle body can be suppressed.
However, when the stabilizer is supported by the sub-frame, as in JP-A No. 2007-326529, the stabilizer is attached to the vehicle body via the elastically deformable bush provided between the sub-frame and the vehicle body. Hence, relative movement occurs between the vehicle body and the stabilizer, albeit in a smaller amount than when the stabilizer is not provided, and as a result, the vehicle body rolls to the left and right. It is therefore difficult to suppress rolling of the vehicle body effectively using a stabilizer.
Hence, in a vehicle in which left and right wheels are attached to a vehicle body by a sub-frame module, demand exists for a method of effectively suppressing rolling of the vehicle body without diminishing an effect of improving the productivity of the vehicle body, which is obtained by employing the sub-frame module.